I work on a mountain surrounded by a forest. There's a lot of green space between the more populated foot of the mountain and the university that lives at the peak. That means there is also plenty of space for critters to live and flourish.
A couple of years ago during the Halloween season an apparently orphaned black bear cub thought cruising the pumpkins and garbage bins in our part of campus was the best way to survive. Although he was small, having him walking through breezeways and snatching pumpkins off front door stoops where many students also walk, caused plenty of concern. Simon, we named the bear, was safely removed from campus and put in a wildlife refuge where my department through private donations raised enough money to house and feed him through the winter. The following spring he was moved to parts unknown.
A more persistent pest are the raccoon. The pregnant female will often congregate with other females in a colony. This means pregnant females often decide to give birth where they were born. If you think about it for a nanosecond you realize this habit can exponentially increase a raccoon population in certain locations over time. And so it is on the mountain I work.
This summer a female raccoon gave birth to four kits and all roamed the campus rummaging through garbage cans and bins for food. This family became quite familiar to those who work where an open window is only a meter or yard off the ground. Raccoon will enter buildings if they have a sense there's food to be found. Here's a video of Mama and the 4 kits shot on August 22.
A memorable incident happened one day this summer with me sitting in a chair, back to the window. Imagine the expression on my face as my boss lunged toward me grumbling something inaudible and perhaps unsavory under her breath, as she dove to close the window before one of the kits climbed in. Here's a reenactment of that scene.
I think one or more of the raccoon climbed into my boss' office during the summer. Once I was on the phone with her and she had to leave the office and close the door. On another occasion she was able to keep a raccoon from climbing all over her desk. So in addition to her work, this summer, my boss had multiple encounters with this set of 5 raccoon.
Recently during lunch I was cruising knitting cyberspace where I found a raccoon pattern. Raccoon Cocoon was found on Ravelry and can be purchased from Lauren Phillips, just click here.
After her summer with the raccoon family I knew she'd miss the little critters this winter when they slow down their activity in order to conserve energy. So I sent her the photo above with the comment "See attached photo. You will be lonely this winter and one of these will offer you companionship in your office." Her response back to me: "OMG hilarious--leave it to you to find one in wool...at this point I'd rather stuff a real one!" Now she didn't really mean that last part, I think. No she didn't.
Within six minutes she writes back: "Love it!!! Hey, how fast can you knit? This would be a great gift for Kate - we will pay you a handsome sum (but perhaps still 30% below market rate). Is it possible for you to pull that off by October? Or at all as I suspect there may not be a pattern." (Kate happens to be a colleague leaving for a new position in early October.) Little did my boss know I'd already sourced the pattern and had plans to make at least one of these little cushions. All this started on September 13 and by September 26 the project was complete.
As for the knitting, you can tell it went very smoothly since it took less than two full weeks to complete. A certain amount of time was spent looking through my button collection to be sure I found ones that had just the right size and shine and on that score my boss and I were pleased.
Knitting with a specific purpose is always fun and when it makes everyone happy I feel fulfilled. Our hope is Kate will take this little cushion and place it in a window in her new office as a constant reminder of her time here at RaccoonU. Here she is with her new companion and my boss, the gift giver.
One of the four gifts done and delivered.
A couple of years ago during the Halloween season an apparently orphaned black bear cub thought cruising the pumpkins and garbage bins in our part of campus was the best way to survive. Although he was small, having him walking through breezeways and snatching pumpkins off front door stoops where many students also walk, caused plenty of concern. Simon, we named the bear, was safely removed from campus and put in a wildlife refuge where my department through private donations raised enough money to house and feed him through the winter. The following spring he was moved to parts unknown.
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| Simon at the refuge |
This summer a female raccoon gave birth to four kits and all roamed the campus rummaging through garbage cans and bins for food. This family became quite familiar to those who work where an open window is only a meter or yard off the ground. Raccoon will enter buildings if they have a sense there's food to be found. Here's a video of Mama and the 4 kits shot on August 22.
A memorable incident happened one day this summer with me sitting in a chair, back to the window. Imagine the expression on my face as my boss lunged toward me grumbling something inaudible and perhaps unsavory under her breath, as she dove to close the window before one of the kits climbed in. Here's a reenactment of that scene.
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| It is now Fall so I have my coat on, I didn't have a coat on last summer. And that is supposed to be fear on my face, no really, that's fear. Really |
Recently during lunch I was cruising knitting cyberspace where I found a raccoon pattern. Raccoon Cocoon was found on Ravelry and can be purchased from Lauren Phillips, just click here.
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| Raccoon Cocoon |
Within six minutes she writes back: "Love it!!! Hey, how fast can you knit? This would be a great gift for Kate - we will pay you a handsome sum (but perhaps still 30% below market rate). Is it possible for you to pull that off by October? Or at all as I suspect there may not be a pattern." (Kate happens to be a colleague leaving for a new position in early October.) Little did my boss know I'd already sourced the pattern and had plans to make at least one of these little cushions. All this started on September 13 and by September 26 the project was complete.
As for the knitting, you can tell it went very smoothly since it took less than two full weeks to complete. A certain amount of time was spent looking through my button collection to be sure I found ones that had just the right size and shine and on that score my boss and I were pleased.
Knitting with a specific purpose is always fun and when it makes everyone happy I feel fulfilled. Our hope is Kate will take this little cushion and place it in a window in her new office as a constant reminder of her time here at RaccoonU. Here she is with her new companion and my boss, the gift giver.
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| Oh what fun we can have with one little knit raccoon cushion |
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